Agents of the maritime detachment of the Civil Guard of Fuerteventura and the Fiscal and Border Patrol (PAFIF) of Lanzarote have seized a specimen of bluefin tuna caught illegally in the port of Arrieta on March 31. This specimen, weighing 207 kilograms, was captured by three people, of Spanish nationality, aboard a recreational boat, in a season in which bluefin tuna fishing is prohibited for the sports and recreational fleet, as explained by the Civil Guard.
For these facts, these three people were reported to the Maritime Fisheries Inspection Service of Las Palmas for an infraction of Order No. 339/2014 of March 6 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, which regulates the bluefin tuna fishery in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.
The sanction, as it is a species whose fishing is prohibited this season for recreational boats, may entail fines of up to 20,000 euros. In compliance with current regulations, the seized bluefin tuna specimen was delivered to the Food Bank of the Haría City Council.
The action was carried out in collaboration with inspectors from the Fisheries Inspection Service of the Subdelegation of the Government in Las Palmas. The Civil Guard has recalled that the bluefin tuna fishery in the Canary Archipelago opened on March 24 for previously authorized professional fishing boats, lasting less than two days, the time it took to reach the capture allocated for the Canary Islands as a whole. The quota did not reach 55 tons, according to these same sources.
